QUOTESTaxi to the Dark Side - Highly recommended. A devastating documentary laying out in precise detail the Bush administration’s use of illegal detainment, torture and death in prison camps that exist outside the U.S. Constitution.
Cloverfield - Scary…delivers the thrills.
Untraceable - Smart and tightly told.
In Bruges - ****! An endlessly surprising comedy! Every once in a while you find a film like this. Ingenious.
The Spiderwick Chronicles - Terrific entertainment for the whole family! ***1/2
Shotgun Stories - A great discovery. A film that never steps wrong and holds us in a vise of tightening revenge.
Standard Operating Procedure - ****! Completely unlike anything I was expecting! Errol Morris is like a magician, and as great a filmmaker as Hitchcock or Fellini.
Fugitive Pieces - Courageous…A rare film of special humanity.
The Fall - Magnificent!
America the Beautiful - Powerful.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - ***1/2 Sensational, awe-inspiring spectacles. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, say it aloud and it causes your pulse to quicken!
The Happening - Weaves a spell. Effective. What I admire about The Happening is that its pace and substance allowed me to…ask how I might respond to a wake-up call from nature.
Get Smart - It’s funny, exciting, preposterous...but nicer still is the perfect pitch of the casting. …with the same level of technical expertise as a new Bond movie.
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl - ***12 Some kind of miracle…Intelligent and sincere.
Wanted - Wanted slams the pedal to the metal and never slows down.
WALL-E - Enchanting. A visual wonderment.
Hancock - I have been waiting for this for years: A superhero movie where the actions of the superheros have consequences in the real world. Hancock is a lot of fun…
The Wackness - An undeniable pleasure!
Tell No One - ***1/2 Enthralling.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - This will become a classic.
The X-Files: I Want To Believe - Together again. For Duchovny and Anderson, these roles are their own. They still love each other, and still believe they would never work as a couple. OR should I say they want to believe?
Brideshead Revisited - Emma Thompson is superb.
Ballast - ****
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - The best in the series.
Bottle Shock - Great entertainment.
Henry Poole Is Here - A spiritual and heartwarming love story that will lift you up.
Hamlet 2 - Original! An ideal showcase for Steve Coogan!
Traitor - Traitor weaves a tangled web of conspiracy and intrigue.
The Women - What a pleasure this movie is! The actresses are all at the top of their form. Well-crafted, well-written and well-acted entertainment
Burn After Reading - Funny and delightful! Frances McDormand is wonderful.
Lakeview Terrace - ****
Battle In Seattle - Three out of four stars.
Appaloosa - Seductive and absorbing.
The Lucky Ones - Spellbinding. These characters may remind you of the three GIs home from World War II in William Wyler’s seven-time Oscar winner The Best Years of Our Lives.
Miracle at St. Anna - Epic…Powerful. One of the best battle scenes I can remember, on par with Saving Private Ryan.
How To Lose Friends and Alienate People - ***1/2 Simon Pegg was born to play this role.
Rachel Getting Married - ****!
The Express - Inspiring.
Happy-Go-Lucky - ****! Sally Hawkins is a joy to behold.
The Secret Life of Bees - ***1/2 I have great affection for this film because it honors a novel that many people loved for good reasons. The Secret Life of Bees in enchanting. I just plain fell for this movie. – Roger Ebert
W. - ****! A fascinating biography. No other word for it. I was absorbed…George W. Bush rose and rose until he was finally powerful enough to stain his family’s legacy.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno - A hit.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - ***1/2 Powerful.
Soul Men - Want a good time? Samuel L. Jackson & Bernie Mac will provide it!
Slumdog Millionaire - **** For Danny Boyle, it is a personal triumph.
Australia - A gorgeous film. Strong performances. Exhilarating images. The kind of movie that is a ‘movie’ with all that the word promise and implies.
Milk - ****! Sean Penn amazes me. A victory. It's one of the best pictures of the year.
Nobel Son - Ingenious!
Doubt - One of the best films of the year!
The Reader - One of the best pictures of the year.
Che - One of the best films of the year.
Nothing Like the Holidays - Heartfelt. ***
The Wrestler - Mickey Rourke’s performance could win him an Oscar.
The Tale of Despereaux - One of the most beautiful animated films I’ve seen.
Nothing But the Truth - A spellbinding thriller.
Marley and Me - Wilson and Aniston demonstrate why they are gifted comic actors.
Revolutionary Road - Two of the best performances of the year in one of the best films of the year!

QUOTESMad Money - Excellent performances.
U2-3D - It’s spectacular! A rousing and beautifully shot 3-D concert film featuring the best rock and roll band of the last quarter-century.
The Bank Job - One of the most entertaining heist movies of the decade.
Under the Same Moon - A beautifully rendered, warm-hearted tale about a mother and child reunion.
Chapter 27 - Jared Leto undergoes a startling transformation on the level of Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull and Charlize Theron in Monster…his depiction of the deranged assassin of John Lennon is disturbing and amazing.
Snow Angels - The cast is just uniformly excellent here.
Nim’s Island - A wondrous and warmhearted adventure…
Young@Heart - Young@Heart is one of the most amazing and inspirational non-fiction films you’ll ever see.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall - One of the funniest movies of the decade. I want to get down on my knees and declare my undying love for this movie. Everybody is hilarious. An instant classic. I laughed out loud 20 times…one good laugh after another. I don’t think I can oversell this, I loved it. One of the funniest damn movies I’ve ever seen.
The Visitor - Wonderful performances.
The Forbidden Kingdom - Great humor!
The Life Before Her Eyes - A strong piece of work. I’m really into this film.
Iron Man - A lot of fun…Robert Downey Jr. gives a blazing performance!
Speed Racer - (1) The look is spectacular! (2) I love the look and the style and the spirit of this film.
Reprise - It plays like a tribute to some of the great European films of the 1960s
How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer - This is a beautifully rendered tale of three generations of women finding love…Elizabeth Pena turns in Oscar-quality work.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - It’s so much fun seeing Harrison Ford back as Indy! The Crystal Skull is fresh and full of nothing but entertainment.
Get Smart - Get Smart works as an action film, and it’s funny as hell!
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl - See it!
Wanted - Over-the-top fun from start to finish.
WALL-E - One of the best movies of the year.
Journey to the Center of the Earth - Put on the glasses and see it. It’s a lot of fun!
The Dark Knight - Epic. One of the best movies of the year.
Mamma Mia - A lot of fun. Amanda Seyfried is just adorable. Whatever state she’s from, they should throw her a parade. I’m saying see it!
Transsiberian - Plays like modern Hitchcock…One of the better thrillers of the year. See it.
Baghead - Very funny! It’s smart! It can be really scary!
Boy A - An expertly rendered film. See it!
Frozen River - Wow. Spectacular work. Melissa Leo gives the performance of her career. A tense thriller with echoes of Fargo.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 - See it.
Hell Ride - If you’re looking for the film with the most gratuitous nudity and violence this year, we have a winner. This Quentin Tarantino produced biker movie is a wall to bloody wall tribute to the B-movie flicks of the sixties.
Elegy - See it! Ben Kingsley is amazing! Wonderful writing and performances. Beautiful photography. Such strong work from Patricia Clarkson.
Vicky Christina Barcelona - Fiery, crazy and sexy, Penelope Cruz is terrific. See it!
The Rocker - The 40-Year-Old Virgin meets School of Rock. Like Will Ferrell and Jack Black, Wilson has the ability to strike just the right note. It’s the same thing Bill Murray pulled off a generation ago. Flat-out funny. Very charming. See it.
Righteous Kill - ***

QUOTESCloverfield - A real jolt.
Never Back Down - It’s a little Karate Kid, a smidge of Fight Club…a lot of The O.C. (Note: This was a quote from the show before he panned it, eventually calling it the worst film of 2008's first half.)
Snow Angels - Extraordinary! A beautifully acted and directed drama.
Flawless - Two up! An entertaining heist film. Caine makes it fun.
Flight of the Red Balloon - ****! A triumph. Lovely and beguiling. Binoche strikes telling chord after telling chord.
Iron Man - A lot of fun!
Reprise - **** It’s a highlight of the filmgoing year so far. A dazzingly structured film.
Kung Fu Panda - One of the best times I’ve had at the movies so far this year.
The Dark Knight - I love this movie! The Dark Knight is one of the great achievements of the year. It’s sensational.
Man On Wire - **** It’s beautiful.
Ballast - ****
Frozen River - One of the best films of the year, period.
Sixty Six - See it.
A Girl Cut In Two - ***1/2! Terrific. An acidic high comedy of amorous secrets. Tightly controlled and wonderfully acted.
The Rocker - Very funny. See it.
Death Race - Bloodthirsty fun! It hits the spot, throws ‘er into reverse and hits the spot again, before machine-gunning it and ramming it head-on for the fun of it.
Traitor - Intriguing.
Ghost Town - ***1/2
Twilight - A film of intelligent strengths. I mean it: astonishing.
Yes Man - Carrey and Deschanel are amazing to watch together.
Revolutionary Road - Leonardo DiCaprio’s finest performance. He’s fearless._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:19 am; edited 10 times in total

QUOTESTaxi to the Dark Side - Powerful! One of the really pivotal indispensable documentaries of this decade! It will stand as an important historical record.
Lost in Beijing - Raw, intense, and sexually explicit.
Summer Palace - A beautiful and passionate film.
Rambo - Stallone gets the job done. Welcome back!
The Witnesses - Powerful!
Caramel - Charming…Lovely, hard to resist.
The Year My Parents Went On Vacation - Performances are charming…warm, sweet, nostalgic.
Definitely, Maybe - A sparkling comic enchantment. Viewers walk away with our faith in soul mates and happy endings confirmed.
The Counterfeiters - A swift and suspenseful thriller. Karl Markovics’ performance is a tour de force of concentration and understatement.
Be Kind Rewind - Altogether wonderful. You’ll want to see it again.
Chop Shop - Poetic and clear-sighted. A subtle, artful fable.
Horton Hears a Who - Fresh & enjoyable. The filmmakers revel in the imaginative freedom their image-making technology affords, and use it with self-confidence and flair.
Love Songs - (A) witty, touching film…both realistic and earnest, frank in its emotions and cognizant of the complicated states of feeling encountered by frisky young city dwellers…likely to inspire ardent love among its admirers.
Irina Palm - Enigmatic, deadpan and remarkably funny!
Stop-Loss - Feverish entertainment. Earnest…Passionate…Honest.
Flight of the Red Balloon - A flawless tribute to Paris and to the spirit of childhood.
My Brother is an Only Child - A very sweet, entertaining and touching exercise in nostalgia!
Water Lilies - Lovely!
Jellyfish - A magical glow! Altogether charming! Refreshingly playful!
Smart People - The great virtue of Smart People is attributable to Noam Murro’s easy-going direction and the excellent script by Mark Jude Poirier.
The Visitor - Jenkins’ performance is a work of quiet precision. McCarthy directs with impressive grace and understatement.
The Forbidden Kingdom - Dazzling!
Stuff and Dough - Powerful! A stripped-down highway thriller. Suspenseful, unnerving and agile.
Iron Man - An unusually good superhero picture.
The Edge of Heaven - Extraordinary! It has cumulative power, both intellectual and emotional.
Mongol - Grand-scale moviemaking.
You Don’t Mess with the Zohan - I love this movie! One of the funniest and bravest comedies I’ve seen.
WALL-E - Genius…WALL-E breaks new ground.
The Last Mistress - A sharp, affecting psycho-sexual costume drama.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Fun. Hellboy II is artful and clever.
Man On Wire - Lovely, touching and altogether enthralling.
American Teen - Fascinating.
Moving Midway - Extraordinarily rich.
Rachel Getting Married - The wonderful thing about Rachel Getting Married is how expansive it seems…It has an undeniable and authentic vitality, an exuberance of spirit, that feels welcome and rare.
Synecdoche, New York - Extremely funny. Kaufman has created a seamless and complicated alternate reality…The feelings it explores are clear and accessible. A movie bristling with paradoxes and conundrums.
I’ve Loved You So Long - Ms. Scott Thomas’s deep, subtle and altogether stunning performance.
Soul Men - A raucous comedy!
A Christmas Tale - I swear it filled me with unadulterated joy.
Milk - A marvel. The best live-action mainstream American movie that I have seen this year. – Its power lies in its uncanny balancing of nuance and scale, its ability to be about nearly everything – love, death, politics, sex, modernity – without losing sight of the intimate particulars of its story. Sean Penn, an actor of unmatched emotional intensity and physical discipline, outdoes himself here, playing a character different from any he has portrayed before. Fascinating.
Cadillac Records - Rollicking and insightful.
Che - Benicio Del Toro gives a soulful and charismatic performance.
Waltz with Bashir - An amazing film! A work of astonishing aesthetic integrity and searing moral power.
Defiance - The true and astonishing story of the Bielski partisans, who fought the Nazis and rescued hundreds of Jews through the darkest years of war and genocide._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:08 am; edited 14 times in total

QUOTESStill Life - A human triumph. One of the world’s most important filmmakers.
Cassandra’s Dream - Like Mr. Allen’s instrumental visual style…Mr. McGregor’s easygoing turn takes time getting used to, partly because, as is almost always the case with this director, the actor seems to have been left to his own devices. But the performance sticks like a knife. It delivers force and feeling, as does Mr. Farrell, whose gentleness has rarely been used so effectively.
Summer Palace - Engrossing…beautifully blends the political with the personal.
The Duchess of Langeais - Mr. Rivette’s direction affirms that he is at the height of his artistic powers….A nearly impeccable work of art, beautiful, true, profound.
The Bank Job - A wham-bam caper flick!
Paranoid Park - One of the most moving and delicately felt films of Gus Van Sant’s fascinating career…A work of art…The film’s visual beauty is so striking. Haunting, voluptuously beautiful…a modestly scaled triumph without a false or wasted moment.
Boarding Gate - Argento delivers a fantastic star turn. She bares body and soul.
Alexandra - A film of startling originality & beauty…Remarkable…A beautiful eerie work of art.
Standard Operating Procedure - A big, provocative and – it goes without saying – disturbing work, though what makes it most provocative is that is greatest ambitions are for its own visual style.
Surfwise - Wonderfully engaging!
Reprise - A coolly funny, touching, exhilaratingly intelligent meditation on identity and friendship..One of the most passionately and intellectually uninhibited works from a young director I’ve seen in ages.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a movie for all ages.
Kung Fu Panda - Stunningly beautiful.
The Happening - Something Wicked This Way Comes. A divertingly goofy thriller with an animistic bent, moments of shivery and twitchy suspense and a solid lead performance from Mark Wahlberg.
Expired - Funny, sad and offbeat…honest and heartfelt.
The Last Mistress - Exhilarating…From the first moment she appears on screen…Ms. Argento has us in her grasp. She never lets go.
Encounters at the End of the World - Hauntingly beautiful! Ethereally lovely!
Hancock - …This superhero story comes with some bite…Laden with genuine twists and grounded by three appealing lead performances…Hancock…speaks honestly to the fundamental human fragility that makes the greatest heroes super.
Before I Forget - Fierce…Brutal…Searing!...will haunt you!
Mad Detective - A jolt of energy. Reaffirms Mr. To’s status as an action master.
The Dark Knight - Thrilling moments of pure cinema. Heath Ledger’s performance and the film’s visual beauty are transporting.
The Order of Myths - Handsomely shot and intelligently edited…A story that is at once very site-specific and seemingly simple and as big and richly complex as the United States itself.
Patti Smith: Dream of Life - An act of rapturous devotion…fragmented beauty and song…Joyous and elegiac, warm and vibrantly present.
Vicky Christina Barcelona - Bathed in light so lusciously golden and honeyed you might be tempted to lick the screen.
A Girl Cut In Two - An erotically charged, beautifully directed story. Claude Chabrol has returned to elegant tight form. From the opening credits…Mr. Chabrol has you firmly by the throat.
Momma’s Man - Independent film defined.
Trouble the Water - Superb…One of the best American documentaries in recent memory. Ebbs and flows like great drama.
Ballast - Pitch-perfect…Elegiac, rapturously lovely…
Ashes of Time Redux - A bold excursion into the realm of pure cinema. It also now seems like one of Mr. Wong’s most important.
Happy-Go-Lucky - Extraordinary…An expansive, moving film…Sally Hawkins is glorious.
Let the Right One In - A spectrally beautiful vampire film that’s more than the sum of its chills and estimable technique.
Synecdoche, New York - To say that Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York is one of the best films of the year of even one closest to my heart is such a pathetic response to its soaring ambition that I might as well pack it in right now.
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 - Preposterously entertaining.
Australia - Australia is a testament to movie love at its most devout…Towering ambition…Rip-roaring entertainment._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Sun Nov 30, 2008 1:51 pm; edited 14 times in total

QUOTESTeeth - Clever. Teenage horror-movie spoof, John Waters parody, no nukes protest movie, twisted sex-education film, quasi-feminist fable, outrageous stunt: Mitchell Lichtenstein’s clever, crude comedy, Teeth, is all these and more.
Live and Become - Live and Become exerts a tidal pull.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Buoyant! It doesn’t waste a moment! Charm emanates from Amy Adams like a perfume.
Heartbeat Detector - Profound, intellectually provocative.
Love Songs - A sexy, quintessentially French delicacy.
Shine a Light - The best seat in the house is this rip-roaring concert documentary.
Tuya’s Marriage - Fascinating.
Dark Matter - Exemplary.
Roman de Gare - A lavishly appointed and sensuous thriller.
Before the Rains - A lavish, beautifully photographed film…
My Father My Lord - Has the glowing simplicity of a biblical parable…Profoundly compassionate.
Stuck - Exceptional! A grim, expert little thriller!
Trumbo - Stirring…gives you reasons to cheer.
Tell No One - A labyrinth in which to get deliriously lost…Delicious…Pure, nasty fun. I watched it twice. It was even better the second time around.
Kabluey - Very funny!
Transsiberian - A tantalizing mystery.
Man On Wire - Exhilarating!
Frozen River - Ms. Leo’s magnificent portrayal of a woman of indomitable grit and not an iota of self-pity makes Frozen River a compelling study of individual courage. She brings the same kind of gravity Patricia Neal did in Hud 45 years ago.
Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer - Fast-paced, enthralling film.
A Girl Cut In Two - Grander is scale than (Chabrol’s) recent mysteries, but shares their sardonic view of class divisions, sexual gamesmanship and crushing social machinery. One of the 5 best arthouse films of the summer.
I Served the King of England - Jiri Menzel’s epic comedy. A lively and amusing satire.
The Pool - Gorgeous!
A Secret - Romantic.
Ghost Town - A buoyant comedy!
City of Ember - A whiz-bang kid’s film.
Fear(s) of the Dark - Most entertaining…A sophisticated showcase of contemporary animation.

New York Times Article (10/12/04)
By Lloyd Grove

Ever wonder just how powerful The New York Times is?
Apparently powerful enough to abort a screening for two dozen movie reviewers from other outlets yesterday to accommodate the tight schedule of Times critic Stephen Holden.
Yesterday my esteemed colleague, Daily News film critic Jack Mathews, was in the crowd at the Broadway Screening Room in midtown - watching the Lions Gate release "Eulogy," which opens Friday - when the projectionist summarily halted the movie.
Critics' screenings, once begun, are almost never stopped. "It's never happened to me in 20 years of screenings," said Hollywood Reporter critic Frank Sheck, who was in the theater. "It's highly unusual."
Why this unprecedented step?
An apologetic publicist explained to the annoyed critics that because the announced 10:30 a.m. screening had started 20 minutes behind schedule, they couldn't show the final reel, because it would prevent a noon screening of Miramax's "Shall We Dance" from starting on time.
"There were about 25 to 30 people in the room, all of us equally bewildered," Mathews told me, noting that screenings seldom if ever start on time. "I said to the publicist, 'Whose fault is it?' She said something about Miramax, whose movie I assume was coming up. But when I pressed her to tell me who's sitting out there who can't wait, she said it was The New York Times' Stephen Holden."
Mathews continued: "I walked out and asked Holden, 'You can't wait 15 minutes?' He said, 'I can't, I have something at 2.' I said, 'Why can't you be inconvenienced instead of all these people?' He didn't answer, and I left."
Yesterday Holden didn't return my phone call and publicists for Lions Gate and Miramax argued that the Timesman shouldn't be fingered because a dozen others were waiting to see "Shall We Dance." But unofficially, a studio publicist told Mathews that the trouble occurred because "another journalist," namely Holden, "had another screening to see."_________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Sun Nov 02, 2008 2:15 pm; edited 11 times in total

QUOTESMad Money - A heist to remember…Keeps you laughing.
Definitely, Maybe - Nothing maybe about Definitely, Maybe. A heart-shaped valentine with charm, humor and intelligence that actually makes you feel good about the world.
Charlie Bartlett - …Laugh-out-loud funny! It picks up where Juno left off.
Vantage Point - Hold your breath. Vantage Point is a nonstop thrill ride!
Bonneville - The script is full of warmth, tears and humorous zingers.
The Other Boleyn Girl - A sexy Tudor soap opera filled with intrigue, ambition and betrayal.
Married Life - Humorous, suspenseful, very entertaining. A simmering tale of jealousy, betrayal, adultery and murderous plans most foul. The actors are flawless.
Shine a Light - Rattled my bones to nirvana and beyond.
Smart People - I loved this movie! It’s witty and smart. Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church are superb!
The Visitor - A marvelous film…The Visitor will make you think and feel…and care about the world you live in.
Then She Found Me - Funny and touching.
The Babysitters - A deliciously dark comedy! The Babysitters breaks rules. Like Six Feet Under and Juno, it’s the perfect antidote to the dopey, butter-cream-frosted teen flicks of John Hughes – Pretty in Pink with poison sauce.
Noise - An excellent new film…A unique comic vision!
Before the Rains - A stunning film!
Savage Grace - ***1/2! Mesmerizing and steamy. An Oscar-worthy performance by Julianne Moore.
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl - Enchanting…spells entertainment with a capital E…One of the summer’s most pleasing surprises! The cast is uniformly excellent
Kabluey - Touching and often hilarious. A real summer treat.
Brideshead Revisited - **** A masterpiece. The movie intelligent filmgoers have waited for all year. An artistic triumph in a class by itself. It makes you grateful to go back to the movies again.
Red - Brian Cox’s performance is unforgettable.
Bottle Shock - ****! Marvelous…Add to your must-see list!
Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer - A tremendous documentary.
Nights in Rodanthe - A genuine heartfelt romance. The Lane-Gere fusion is so good!
Rachel Getting Married - Superior filmmaking. ****! Profound, truthful, unforgettable.
Changeling - Changeling is the real deal, as good as any film Eastwood has ever made, and 10 times more electrifying than most. It grabs you by the throat and never lets go.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - Wonderful and unforgettable. See it! Vera Farmiga is marvelous.
Frost/Nixon - A terrific film. Fine performances add to the excellence.
The Reader - A masterpiece! A work of overwhelming accomplishment that will be one of the most uplifting movie experiences of your life. No expectation can prepare you for The Reader’s emotional impact. The acting is superb. Kate Winslet gives an Oscar-caliber performance that is one of the most devastating of her career. I can think of no praise high enough for Director Stephen Daldry. I can’t wait to see it again. One of the best pictures of the year!
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - A monumental achievement
Revolutionary Road - Flawless. Deeply heartfelt, profoundly intelligent work that raises the bar of filmmaking to exhilarating heights of greatness. One of the most uplifting movie experiences of your life. A masterpiece. One of the best pictures of the year.
Good - A profound, provocative, and deeply moving film that is so sensitively and intelligently crafted. Viggo Mortensen’s versatility never ceases to amaze me.

Quote From Rex Reed:
“And so I Heart Huckabees may not be the worst movie ever made, depending on how you feel about such hollow, juvenile and superficial trash as Brewster McCloud, Hudson Hawk, Punch-Drunk Love, Mulholland Drive, The Royal Tenenbaums, Lost Highway, Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses and … well, as they said in Hollywood during the McCarthy witch hunts, "the list goes on."

The egomaniacal young director-producer-writer David O. Russell is a member of the new group of anarchists that includes Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Spike Jonze, freaky Todd Solondz and the dismally overrated non-writer Charlie Kaufman, who wins critical praise for writing incoherent movies about why he can’t write coherent movies.”_________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:15 am; edited 12 times in total

QUOTESChicago 10 - Provocative and audacious.
Horton Hears a Who - Horton is hilarious!
The Visitor - Hands down, best movie I’ve seen so far this year.
Iron Man - One of the hippest, best-written and best-directed superhero movies ever!
A Previous Engagement - Delightful…overlook [it] at your peril.
Savage Grace - Very provocative. The sex scene is a real talker.
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl - ***1/2 Abigail Breslin is spunky perfection.
WALL-E - A masterpiece. Charming, hilarious.
The Wackness - Excellent! The Wackness has viewers rolling in the aisles. Sharply written and observed.
Frozen River - A triumph for director Courtney Hunt! A thriller anchored by an unforgettable performance by veteran character actress Melissa Leo.
Pineapple Express - Hilarious.
Vicky Christina Barcelona - Speactacular summer entertainment! Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz are combustible together.
Tropic Thunder - Plenty of laughs.
Religulous - One of the funniest and most offensive documentaries ever made.
Flash of Genius - Greg Kinnear shines with an awards-caliber glow.
Changeling - A gripping and beautifully crafted film. Jolie gives a big, movie star performance that rivets your attention. Changeling is another remarkable addition to Eastwood’s directorial canon.
Slumdog Millionaire - **** Four stars simply aren’t enough for the most entertaining movie I’ve ever labeled a masterpiece.
A Christmas Tale - ****! I love it. One of the year’s best. The perfect Christmas movie for those that hate Christmas movies.
Milk - ****! Deeply moving and incredibly timely.
Gran Torino - Eastwood gives the best performances of his career.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - **** Brad Pitt does his best work ever. A classic for the ages.
Last Chance Harvey - Utterly charming. Hoffman and Thompson have great chemistry.

9/15/08 - I’M FUCKIN’ LOU. WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?

After spending eight days in Toronto for the annual film festival, I don’t know which was odder. The fact that New York Post Lou Lumenick took to whacking Roger Ebert in the middle of a press screening or that it took most of us some five days to hear about it. I had a lot of close colleagues at the festival. Some of them were AT that screening. Surely, by even some six degrees of separation someone would have said something to someone and I wouldn’t have had to hear about it through Rush & Molloy. But it did happen and in case YOU didn’t hear, let me give you a quick refresher.

At a screening for Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, Mr. Lumenick felt a tap-tap-tappin’ on his shoulder to which he responded “Don’t touch me!” Along came another tappity-tap-tap followed by a stern “I said – don’t touch me!” When a third tap was administered, Lumenick apparently jumped up from his aisle seat and smacked the perpetrator on the knee in retaliation. As I’ve already spoiled the surprise ending as to who the tapper was, there are probably still any number of thoughts leaping to your mind. Why was Ebert bothering this poor critic just trying to do his job? Why didn’t Lumenick just punch Ebert in his surgically-repaired jaw instead of giving him a lovetap on the knee?

Or maybe you’re contemplating what you would have done had you been in the vicinity? If you knew all the facts and saw it all go down would you have leapt up from your own seat, acted as Roger’s voice and started beating Lumenick the Chicago way? Roger has his own voice though, as he always has, with the written word and doesn’t need our help to administer justice on some inconsiderate East Coaster. Ebert has gone the Obama route on the whole matter, trying to defuse the situation before a bigger deal is made of it. You can read his response HERE. If you’re looking for Lumenick’s, you’re not going to find one. At least not yet. But maybe never. You see, not-so-sweet Lou is what we call a damned position. If he do, if he don’t, the window has passed for a public apology. We know why Roger was tapping him, as he had more reason than most to be bothered by an obstructed view of a film subtitled for at least two-thirds of its running time. But there’s a greater question that speaks to Lumenick’s sense of general decency of humanistic qualities then why he would hit a respected colleague, no matter the condition he was in. With the spirit of Danny Boyle’s brilliant film in mind, I’ll pose the question to you now

When you are tapped on the shoulder, wherever it may be, your first instinct is to:

A) Say “Don’t touch me!”
B) Ignore the tapper completely.
C) Break their finger like Alec Baldwin in Miami Blues
D) Turn around to see why you are being tapped.

If you answered “A”, “B” or “C” then you are a major asshole. If you correctly answered “D” then congratulations, you are in line with 99.99999999999999% of the world’s population. Maybe Lumenick was the victim of one too many tap-switcheroos in his time. (You know the game. Playfully tap someone on one shoulder, move out of their sightline until they realize the tapper is now on their other side.) Or maybe Lumenick is the kind of asshole many of us critics encounter on the festival circuit. Sense of entitlement. Inconsiderate to others whether it be through constant checking of their bright mobile devices, talking out loud during the movie or leaning so far over to one’s side that its impossible for the person behind you to see a damn thing. “Don’t touch me” is what a child might say. Anyone familiar with Bill Cosby’s standup knows this. And anyone familiar with Criticwatch knows that we started handing out Bag O’Douche awards for a reason. It may only be September, but Lumenick is well out in front. Nothing short of Pete Hammond setting fire to a puppy factory or Shawn Edwards pissing on Pauline Kael’s grave will be able to save him. Of course I guess it all depends on how many episodes the new incarnation of At the Movies airs._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:57 pm; edited 15 times in total

QUOTES4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - A power house. Will take you by surprise and shake you up.
Caramel - Sweet, Intimate and sophisticated.
The Year My Parents Went On Vacation - If you haven’t seen a group of bearded Orthodox Jews dance with joy at a Pele goal, you’ve seriously missed out!
Stop-Loss - Stop-Loss does it right. Propulsive emotional intensity. Perhaps the best film we’ve seen come out of Iraq. It’s different than the other dramatic films on Iraq; it’s impact is undeniable
Shine a Light - Shine a Light is illuminating. This remarkable footage captures wonderful moments of musicianship and style.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - This is the Indiana Jones we've been waiting for.
Mongol - Really something to see.
WALL-E - Remarkable. Full of wonder.
Tell No One - Tell everyone about Tell No One…A top-notch thriller so twisty you may forget to breathe.
The Dark Knight - This is powerful and propulsive filmmaking.
Man On Wire - Exhilarating! This riveting film makes you shake your head in amazement.
Frozen River - An amazingly gripping film. Restores your spirits as well as your faith in American independent film.
Never Apologize: A Personal Visit with Lindsay Anderson - A spirited documentary! Malcolm McDowell is a commanding storyteller!
I.O.U.S.A. - The most unexpectedly frightening movie at Sundance.
Hamlet 2 - An unhinged, off-the-wall comedy! Steve Coogan is a major comic presence. Rock Me Sexy Jesus is really something to see.
Appaloosa - Ed Harris’ performance is forceful and nuanced.
The Duchess - Ralph Fiennes gives a quietly complex performance almost beyond words. A marvelous portrayal of absolute power.
Rachel Getting Married - Exceptional! A powerful screenwriting debut for Jenny Lumet!
Changeling - Changeling is a hard story to shake off. To see this film is to understand both how fragile and how essential our hopes for decency and truth are in a world that must be made to care about either one.
A Christmas Tale - Terrific…The film is smart, outrageous and a real treat.
Australia - Where dream that you dare to dream really do come true. Seems especially fitting for this big dreaming film.
The Day the Earth Stood Still - Enjoyable. It’s hard to think of another actor…who could convey as well as Reeves the stranger-in-a-strange-land aura of Klaatu. He chills the blood in the most pleasant way.
Gran Torino - Anywhere Eastwood is, the audiences are wise to follow.
Frost/Nixon - Remarkable. Engrossing. Filmmaking of a type rarely seen anymore.
The Reader - A serious contender for Best Picture of the year. Alternately despairing, distraught and defeated, Kate Winslet allows conflicted emotions to play, across her face as she struggles with the life and death decision of which secrets to reveal and which to hide away.
Waltz with Bashir - It’s unlike any film you’ve seen, period. A seamless mixing of the real and the surreal, the personal and the political, animation and live action.
The Class - Masterful!
Defiance - Daniel Craig and Live Schreiber are excellent._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:11 am; edited 12 times in total

Hollywood Elsewhere 2/4/03 (Movie Poop Shoot)"Owen Gleiberman, hands down, is the biggest nutter. He strikes me as someone who feels he needs to be contrarian to have any street cred; I don't trust that he reacts authentically to a film." – New York magazine editor.

"Owen Gleiberman's taste worries me. I often use it as a reverse litmus test!" – Manhattan-based writer/filmmaker

QUOTESMad Money - An infectious dose of money fever.
U2-3D - The 3-D effects envelop you, majestically, and that effect fuses with the band’s transporting sound to create a full-scale sensory high.
The Other Boleyn Girl - A classy romantic cocktail…The Other Boleyn Girl offers the pleasures you want from a royal-court soaper. Natalie Portman sparkles with deception, daring to flaunt passion as well as ambition. Few actresses know how to submit with the parted-lip sensuality of Scarlett Johansson.
Snow Angels - Grade A! Captivating!
Poisoned by Polonium - A muckraking documentary of vast shuddery intrigue. B+
Under the Same Moon - Grade: A-
21 - A clever and novel card-sharp thriller.
Chapter 27 - Jared Leto disappears inside this angry, mouth-breathing psycho geek with a conviction that had me hanging on his every delusion.
Smart People - Smart People is a sharp comedy.
Made of Honor - Dempsey, with his relaxed charm, and Monaghan, with her soft and peachy sensual spark, rise to the challenge of making friendship look like the wellspring of true love.
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead - Poultrygeist is as savage as Dawn of the Dead, as slapstick nutzoid as Evil Dead 2, as gag-on-your-popcorn gross as Pink Flamingoes…An exploitation movie with soul.
The Edge of Heaven - Powerful!
Bigger Stronger Faster - A-! Fascinating! An incisive and compulsively watchable look at America’s love affair with steroids.
Sex and the City - Sex and the City is full of love, tears, fashion, depression, good sex, bad sex, and supreme tenderness.
Encounters at the End of the World - Stunning. Riveting. Herzog is at his peak!
WALL-E - Marvelous. WALL-E whisks you to another world.
The Wackness - A crowd-pleaser.
August - A-! An indie Wall Street for the Internet era! Hartnett gives a riveting, high-wire performance and has a scruffy glamour worthy of Brad Pitt, as well as a whiplash gift-of-gab intensity all his own.
The Dark Knight - It’s a ride for the gut and the brain.
American Teen - Sensationally engrossing.
Frozen River - A thriller you can believe in.
Brideshead Revisited - Lavish.
Elegy - Cue the Oscar buzz! Grade: A-!
Hamlet 2 - Dementedly hilarious! Steve Coogan is uproarious.
Momma’s Man - A beautiful, wise…Poker-faced comedy…
Battle In Seattle - Staged with stunning passion and skill.
Choke - A dirty-minded satirical-psychotic comedy.
Religulous - Funny as …well, hell. A blasphemous detonation of all things holy and scriptural.
Rachel Getting Married - A triumph for Jonathan Demme – his best film since The Silence of the Lambs and a movie that tingles with life. Anne Hathaway is a revelation! Grade A!
Rocknrolla - Decadently entertaining.
What Just Happened? - Priceless, laugh-out-loud lines.
Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed On The Mountains - Deeply moving.
Cadillac Records - Beyonce burns a whole in the screen.
The Wrestler - Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler is a bravura work of art.
Nothing But the Truth - Made with brains, pace and skill and with a topical fury._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:33 pm; edited 11 times in total

QUOTESCloverfield - A heart-racing experience with plenty of chills, thrills and exhilaration.
Caramel - A cinematic treat!
In Bruges - A very entertaining ride! In Bruges stands out boldly (and blessedly). It twists and turns in compelling and unpredictable ways. Sharply written, superbly acted, funny and even occasionally touching.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - A veritable treat! Keeps us smiling! Frances McDormand is pitch-perfect. Played perfectly by Amy Adams.
Horton Hears a Who - Brilliant, funny. Horton is a cinematic treat…visual magic. Act swiftly and go see this movie.
Under the Same Moon - Powerful and evocative. A moving tale of yearning, as well as unflagging courage and determination. Under the Same Moon is a heartfelt story of unquenchable hope.
Run Fatboy Run - Romantically funny. Run Fat Boy Run is a winner! Indulge in some belly laughs.
Leatherheads - A real winner. The football saga Leatherheads, a nimble throwback to the screwball comedies of the 1930s, meets its goal.
Young@Heart - Young@Heart is a heartening and poignant affirmation of the transformative power of music.
The Visitor - A deeply moving film. You can’t help but be uplifted.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Full of laughs. The subject matter is racy, the laughs rowdy. There’s an unmistakably gentle heart beating staunchly beneath the raunch.
Baby Mama - Fey and Poehler may well be the best female comedy duo since Lucy and Ethel. Steve Martin is hilarious.
Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay - Even more raunchy and raucous than the first.
Iron Man - Entertaining and fun!
The Fall - Dazzling.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - An exhilarating fantasy adventure.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Spectacular fun!
Sex and the City - It’s an unabashed pleasure that goes down as smoothly as a chilled cosmo.
Stuck - Powerful! Hard to shake!
The Incredible Hulk - Steeped in action and spectacular special effects.
WALL-E - **** Futuristic, funny and fantastical.
The Wackness - Darkly funny and life-affirming!
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson - Captivating, mesmerizing, fascinating. Gonzo is not just for fans, but anyone interested in art, human nature and political history.
Journey to the Center of the Earth - One of the most family-friendly films this summer!
Mamma Mia - Is there anything Meryl Streep can’t do? Streep and the rest of the cast appear to be having the time of their lives. Escapist and fun.
The Dark Knight - **** The Dark Knight is a more thrilling, intelligent, morally complex and masterfully crafted film than any summer blockbuster in years.
American Teen - Revealing, funny and involving.
The Order of Myths - ***1/2 Engrossing. A deftly made portrait. Provocative.
Pineapple Express - Gut-busting comedy. Side-splittingly funny. Franco is a revelation. The laughs are almost non-stop.
Elegy - ***1/2 Deeply affecting and profoundly observed. Ben Kingsley gives a stellar performance. This is Penelope Cruz’s best English-speaking role. Patricia Clarkson is excellent. Superbly written and visually evocative. Insightful, beautifully acted, and poignant.
Tropic Thunder - Downey is absurdly funny.
Vicky Christina Barcelona - Exhilarating
Hamlet 2 - Irreverent!
Traitor - Compelling.
Burn After Reading - Consistently funny – with witty dialogue that stays in your head for days!
The Duchess - The Duchess is entertaining and sumptuously told. It’s the saga of a vibrant and forward-thinking woman distinguished by sharp writing and strong acting.
Ghost Town - A spirited comedy with plenty of laughs!
Igor - Loony and colorfully tantalizing.
Flash of Genius - Flash of Genius is compelling.
City of Ember - A thought-provoking and family-friendly adventure.
Happy-Go-Lucky - ****! A rare film that is equal parts entertaining, life-affirming and thought-provoking.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - ***1/2 Mesmerizing. A beautifully rendered film.
Role Models - A surprisingly clever comedy.
Slumdog Millionaire - **** The exhilarating and sweeping Slumdog Millionaire is one in a million. Unforgettable.
Frost/Nixon - **** Enthralling.
Doubt - ***1/2 Meryl Streep delivers a bravura performance. Philip Seymour Hoffman is every bit her equal. He is spectacular. To watch Hoffman and Streep match wits is exhilarating. A fascinating film.
The Reader - A tale of eroticism, secrecy and guilt that’s bound to stir discussion. Well-acted…its an absorbing story of sexual awakening and moral dilemmas. The Reader raises thorny questions and avoids simple answers.
Nothing Like the Holidays - This year’s warm and fuzzy Christmas movie.
Last Chance Harvey - Pitch-perfect performances…A surprisingly tender and appealing love story._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:28 am; edited 24 times in total

Quote from Miss Adams in the CNN piece on Criticwatch (08/28/03): "The expectation [of the studios] is that [reviewers will] come up with something quotable in one sentence," says Us magazine reviewer Thelma Adams. "It's part of the give-and-take." There are also the reviewers who "will say anything to get their name in the paper," she continues. "They won't go out of their way to write a positive review, but ... they'll play ball" for the glory of their own words in extra-large type, publication duly noted. "It's free advertising for your publication," she adds. “

QUOTES27 Dresses - Endearing.
In Bruges - An entertaining black comedy!
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - A delightful champagne cocktail of a comedy!
The Visitor - A tender, realistic and poignant drama.
Young@Heart - Inspiring. Young@Heart will have viewers laughing and crying, when they’re not rocking and rolling.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Vibrant…tops the first.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - The magic is still there. It’s great to have you back Dr. Jones!
Appaloosa - Viggo Mortensen is magnetic.
Flash of Genius - A fascinating tale.
The Express - The Express is terrific!
Slumdog Millionaire - ****_________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Sun Nov 16, 2008 12:14 pm; edited 5 times in total

QUOTESIn Bruges - Undeniably fun and refreshingly un-P.C.!
The Counterfeiters - An astonishing tale of cunning, compromise and survival. Fascinating and morally complex.
Shine a Light - A two-hour celebration of rock & roll longevity.
Young@Heart - Young@Heart sends you out of the theater transformed. I’d even call it life-affirming.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall - No pain, no comic gain. Forgetting Sarah Marshall sticks with you, unlike so many disposable romps, because you can sense the laughs are built on hard-earned personal experience.
Frozen River - Gripping! A superb performance by Melissa Leo. Opens up a world we rarely see on film.
The Edge of Heaven - Riveting!
Savage Grace - A sensual and grand decadent tour. A mesmerizing portrait of love run wildly, tragically amok.
Bigger Stronger Faster - Rousing! Far more provocative than the expose of steroid use that I was expecting.
WALL-E - A winner. Wondrously inventive, funny and poignant.
Man On Wire - Shows, step by thrilling step, how Philippe Petit pulled off his astonishing tightrope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. No doc – and no fictional film (at Sundance) was more purely entertaining.
Frozen River - Gripping! Opens up a world we rarely see on film. A superb performance by Melissa Leo.
Tropic Thunder - The funniest movie of the summer…giddily entertaining, wickedly smart and cinematically satisfying.
Burn After Reading - So much fun! Delightful! The scene-stealing Brad Pitt is exuberantly silly. John Malkovich is at the top of his game. George Clooney gives a slyly self-parodying performance.
The Duchess - Ralph Fiennes is triumphant. His performance is a portrait of what the perks of power can do to a man’s soul. Comic, terrifying and understandable all at once.
Rachel Getting Married - Demme’s deliberately unstable mixture of moods and genres produces electric results. Anne Hathaway’s raw, spiky, terrific performance and Rosemarie DeWitt matches her step for step.
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist - Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist captures the first-time-around exhilaration of teen life – that moment when you spread your wings and take unexpected flight.
Changeling - Only a very hardened cynic could fail to be moved. Jolie plays Christine Collins with admirable restraint and slow-burning ferocity.
Let the Right One In - This is a vampire movie list no other. Mesmerizing.
A Christmas Tale - Delicious. A genuine holiday feast.
The Betrayal - Packs and emotional wallop.
Frost/Nixon - Entertaining and sharply observant. Witty.
The Reader - It’s emotional impact sneaks up on you. The Reader asks tough questions and, to its credit, provides no easy answers.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Brad Pitt gives one of the subtlest, most touching performances of his career. Lyrical, original, deeply felt.
The Wrestler - Witness the resurrection of Mickey Rourke in Darren Aronofsky’s deeply affecting film.
Revolutionary Road - What you will see are two fine actors willing and able to bare their souls. Revolutionary Road is lushly, impeccably mounted. It’s almost a shock to see DiCaprio this exposed and Winslet is scarily good, making every jagged emotional swerve ring true.
Waltz with Bashir - Unforgettable! It has hallucinatory power that can stand alongside that of Apocalypse Now._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:25 am; edited 11 times in total

QUOTESThe Spiderwick Chronicles - It's wondrous and scary.
The Counterfeiters - Ruzowitzky tells with cool wit and subtle tension. – Richard Corliss ([i]same quote then credited to Richard Schickel)
Snow Angels - Green hits all the grace notes with perfect skill, and a strong cast brings dignity.
Body of War - Superb documentary! Unbearably moving!
Street Kings - A bracing thriller. Always smart and strong.
Baby Mama - Smart, funny and beguiling.
Standard Operating Procedure - Harrowing and haunting. Errol Morris deserves the medal of honor.
Iron Man - It’s Iron Man to the rescue. They don’t call it Marvel for nothing.
Speed Racer - Speed Racer is like nothing you’ve ever seen. It’s the future of movies.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Epic-size entertainment.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - A sleek summer blockbuster. A nonstop thrill ride adventure. Wow! The Crystal Skull delivers!
Kung Fu Panda - Kung-furious. Cunning visual art and ultra-satisfying entertainment. There’s heart in this movie and that’s the secret ingredient.
WALL-E - An astonishment. Pixar’s most enthralling entertainment since Nemo.
The Dark Knight - The Dark Knight is a strap-yourself-in trip.
The X-Files: I Want To Believe - The movie has manifold pleasures…As much for the interplay of Mulder and Scully – The Soulmates who were afraid to become lovers – as for a story that concentrates on human, not astral, malfeasance.
Elegy - Cue the Oscar buzz!
Vicky Christina Barcelona - Woody Allen’s best movie in 20 years.
Trouble the Water - Magnificent! Endlessly moving!
Righteous Kill - DeNiro and Pacino, reheated.
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist - Smart and sweet.
The Secret Life of Bees - Director Gina Prince-Bythewood has made an honorable movie, wonderfully attentive to the skills of its excellent cast, that turned this devout cynic into a believer.
Synecdoche, New York - A miracle movie. No film with an ambition this large and an achievement this impressive, can be anything but exhilarating. Thanks in large part to a superb cast, led by Philip Seymour Hoffman’s unsparing, sympathetic, towering performance…The movie should delight viewers who both work the movie out and surrender to its spell.
Changeling - Epic. Taut, twisty and compelling.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno - Justin Long is a surefire laugh-educer. Sweet, funny & sexy!
JCVD - The best movie Van Damme ever made. As for the star, he deserves not a black belt but an Oscar.
Slumdog Millionaire - A buoyant hymn to life, and a movie to celebrate.
Twilight - It rekindles the great Hollywood romances.
Australia - Enthralling. This is the rare film that in visual and emotional scope lives up to the word epic.
The Reader - Director Stephen Daldry mines all the sexual & ethical intensity. – Kate Winslet gives the best performance of the year.
Gran Torino - An Eastwood lead role is a movie event. He is in total command, daring himself to new depths.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - A sprawling, enthralling movie. Opens a window onto our common mortality, where the very young and the very old are similarly dependent and the years in between are a precious gift.
Defiance - Defiance is worth celebrating._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:05 am; edited 15 times in total

QUOTESStill Life - Extremely beautiful.
The Counterfeiters - A testament to guile. Seductive, insolent and triumphant.
Stop-Loss - A film directed by Kimberly Peirce, her first feature since the remarkable Boys Don’t Cry, is not easy to ignore. It is forceful, effective and alive with raw emotions produced by an endless war – a time when the patriotism of military families is in danger of being exploited beyond endurance. The movie may become the central-coming-home-from-war-story of this period, just as The Best Years of Our Lives became central to the period after the Second World War. Stop-Loss is a love letter to American soldiers.
Then She Found Me - A fine, tense, unpredictable comedy of mixed-up emotions.
Brick Lane - A lovely movie! Sarah Gavron is a filmmaker to watch.
Hancock - Hancock is by far the most enjoyable big movie of the summer.
Elegy - Of all the good actors who have adorned the middle-aged-professor films, Ben Kingsley is the most formidable and convincing. We’re in fast company here, and the experience is refreshing.
Vicky Christina Barcelona - A sun-drenched splendor that never falters. Woody Allens’ writing is crisp…He works everything out with a stringent thoroughness that still allows room for surprise.
I Served the King of England - Playful and slyly erotic!
A Secret - Fascinating!
Body of Lies - Smart and tightly drawn, Body of Lies has a throat-gripping urgency.
Milk - Vibrantly entertaining! A rowdy anthem of triumph!
Frost/Nixon - Absorbing and exciting.
Revolutionary Road - Explosive.
The Class - A wonderful film! Brilliant and touching. Everyone should see it!
Defiance - Inspirational._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:13 am; edited 7 times in total

QUOTESTaxi to the Dark Side - The documentary that many of us have prayed for, the one that could break through even to people who will hear no evil about the war on terror.
27 Dresses - A lot of fun. Katherine Heigl…Our next big romantic-comedy superstar.
The Duchess of Langeais - Electric.
Paranoid Park - A raging success! A trip into space – not outer but inner, in ways that movies rarely are.
Love Songs - Exhilarating! Proves you can make a movie musical in which style doesn’t upstage content. Blossoms from the inside out.
My Brother is an Only Child - Alive and entertaining!
Flight of the Red Balloon - A masterpiece.
The Forbidden Kingdom - Great fun!
Standard Operating Procedure - A riveting narrative. Errol Morris has hold of a monster subject, one in which politics and art bleed together.
Redbelt - Fast, lively, in your face. …rousingly good.
Before the Rains - Cool and evocative…
Turn the River - The directorial debut of the actor Chris Eigeman, has a mixture of edginess and melancholy that’s beautifully sustained…
The Edge of Heaven - Entrancing! Masterly.
Sex and the City - Joyful! Parker pulls out the acting stops, and she’s spectacularly good.
The Go-Getter - Super unleaded. Just in time for summer. A perfect road trip.
Expired - Touching…The film is appallingly good.
Full Battle Rattle - Freaky, amusing. A showbiz comedy with an almost stoned view of the occupation.
The Order of Myths - Brilliant. Heartbreaking. A winner!
Tropic Thunder - Marvel at the genius of Robert Downey Jr.
Vicky Christina Barcelona - Lively, entertaining and seductive. Penelope Cruz is sensationally funny!
I Served the King of England - Why can’t Americans make comedies as playful? Sprightly, lyrical, mischievously understated!
Moving Midway - Thrilling! Brilliantly fuses criticism and storytelling.
Elite Squad - Ingenious…Bears a resemblance to the viscerally exciting seventies urban thrillers like the French Connection.
Hounddog - Dakota Fanning is a child actor with a grown-up soul, and every move, every breath, seems mysteriously right. The focus of Hounddog isn’t child-rape, any more than it’s Elvis-worship.
Rachel Getting Married - A masterpiece! Hathaway is stunningly vivid!
Splinter - I loved it to pieces.
Synecdoche, New York - Enough poetry for several great movies.
The Betrayal - Lyrical, expansive, unbearably beautiful.
Cadillac Records - The ensemble is stupendous – howlingly great – and the music goes deep.
The Class - A true movie miracle! One of the 10 best films of the year._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:21 am; edited 12 times in total

QUOTESVince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show - Great comedy without the two-drink minimum.
Jumper - Plenty of romance, dazzling special effects and humor in this neatly packaged action-adventure flick.
George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead - Bloody brilliant! May be Romero’s best ever!
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Live it up with this deliciously heartfelt comedy! Played with bubbly sexiness by Amy Adams!
Under the Same Moon - ****
Flawless - ***1/2 A taut caper film in which the robbery is ingenious. Like a diamond, it’s a story with many intriguing facets.
Smart People - ***1/2 Sarah Jessica Parker is terrific.
The Visitor - ****
Dark Matter - ***1/2
The Life Before Her Eyes - ***1/2 It sneaks up on you ad haunts you afterward.
The Forbidden Kingdom - Jackie Chan and Jet Li are a great one-two punch.
Then She Found Me - Hunt directs with a warmth and a sense of humor that take the viewer from giggles to tears and back again. Think of this as a chick flick with both brains and heart – and lots of both! Midler is, as always, a force of nature.
Stuck - Twisted and great!
Finding Amanda - ****. This is comedy with razor edges. Broderick gives a delicious performance and Brittany Snow is the real surprise.
Diminished Capacity - ***1/2! The antidote to summer blockbuster fatigue. A lovely film with hidden pleasures…and comedy that sneaks up on you. Broderick is perfect.
Transsiberian - A ticket to a very twisty ride!
Mamma Mia - The most entertaining summer musical since Grease. A fun-filled romp from start to finish. Careful – it could cause spontaneous sing-alongs!
Brideshead Revisited - **** Emma Thompson and Matthew Goode are outstanding.
Hamlet 2 - The summer’s wittiest hit! ***1/2!
Traitor - The action is taut and tense. ***1/2.
The Dukes - A pure feel-good movie._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Sun Nov 16, 2008 12:08 pm; edited 10 times in total

QUOTESLost in Beijing - A funny film…a character-driven take on what’s ticking in China.
Still Life - ****! Exhilarating.
Chicago 10 - Raucous and passionate. The audience at Sundance rose to their feet as one.
Blindsight - ***1/2
Poisoned by Polonium - ****
Stop-Loss - A remarkably entertaining movie.
Young@Heart - Their humor is so genuine and their enthusiasm so infectious, it would seem impossible for an audience not to be swept away…
Redbelt - Chiwetel Ejiofor is phenomenal.
My Winnipeg - ****!
Beauty In Trouble - Ana Geislerova embodies all the reasons women make men crazy.
Elegy - ***1/2! Ben Kingsley is brilliant!
Ghost Town - ***1/2 A delightful antidote to the comedic excesses of the season leaving no doubt that Ricky Gervais is among the funniest men in film. Always amusing, smart and fun. So charming it gives new cachet to the afterlife.
Igor - Totally fresh and goofily funny.
How To Lose Friends and Alienate People - Simon Pegg plays one of the world’s most obnoxious humans…and still makes us love him.
Happy-Go-Lucky - Sally Hawkins is phenomenal!
Let the Right One In - At this point the best film of the year.
Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed On The Mountains - Superb! A cinematic tour de force! One of the great tales of human survival.
Revolutionary Road - ****
Last Chance Harvey - Dustin and Emma work emotional magic._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:22 am; edited 5 times in total

QUOTES4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - ****! Clearly one of the best movies of the year from any country.
The Counterfeiters - A must-see! Graced with very luminous performances.
Heartbeat Detector - It has haunted me ever since I saw it.
Sleepwalking - **** One of the most rewarding emotional experiences of the year
Irina Palm - A cinematic event worth catching!
My Blueberry Nights - One of the best movies of the year!
Bra Boys - …One of the best nonfiction films of the year thus far…
88 Minutes - Pacino still sizzles!
XXY - An exquisitely tendered emotional experience.
Yella - A startling work. A film to be seen and savored.
A Previous Engagement - Fully worth the price of admission.
When Did You Last See Your Father? - ****! I have never really seen anything quite like it, and I must wholeheartedly recommend this wondrous work for its magnificently moving performances by Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth.
The Edge of Heaven - An epical masterpiece.
The Promotion - ****!
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson - ****. The most absorbing film fiction or non-fiction, I have seen this year. Alex Gibney and collaborators have surpassed even the much honored Enron and Taxi to the Dark Side. Gonzo is a must-see for everyone.
Brideshead Revisited - ****
Frozen River - One of the strongest feminist statements I have ever seen onscreen. Melissa Leo and Misty Upham project an aura of indestructibility that proves spiritually invigorating.
In Search of a Midnight Kiss - ***1/2 Strikingly original…uncommonly bright…well-worth watching. Gives me renewed hope for the future of so-called independent cinema.
Vicky Christina Barcelona - Delectable summer entertainment. An artistic triumph of heroic dimensions with a magnificent acting ensemble. ****!
I Served the King of England - ****! Raunchy merriment!
Happy-Go-Lucky - ****! Richly exuberant entertainment! Director Mike Leign is astoundingly skillful. Sally Hawkins is brilliant.
I’ve Loved You So Long - ****! An unusually mature piece of work.
Eden - Excellent!
A Christmas Tale - ***1/2!...A film experience to be seen and savored._________________Erik Childress
Online Film Critics Society / Chicago Film Critics Association
Nick Digilio - WGN Radio Chicago

Last edited by Erik The Movieman on Sun Nov 16, 2008 11:58 am; edited 9 times in total